Dawr al-ʻArab wa-al-ʻUmānīyīn fī Nashr al-Islām bi-al-Ṣīn bayna al-Qarnayn al-Awwal wa-al-Khāmis al-Hijrīyayn - Khālidī, Masʻūd; al-Muʼtamar al-Duwalī: ʻUmān wa-Duwal Janūb Sharq Āsiyā wa-al-Ṣīn: Āfāq Thaqāfīyah wa-Tārīkhīyah wa-Siyāsīyah wa-Ḥaḍārīyah (2016) (Kuwālā Lumbūr) (Kuwālā Lumbūr : Markaz Dhākirat ʻUmān, 2016)
Islam reached China early, entering with the beginning of the Islamic mission and from the time of prophethood. Thanks to contacts between Arabs and the countries of Southeast Asia, China among them, merchants, missionaries, jurists and political delegations moved to China; some returned to their homelands and others settled there, forming Muslim communities in its cities which had an effect in spreading Islam. They built mosques, taught the Arabic language and enriched the economic life of the cities in which they settled. Although Islam did not spread widely during the first Islamic centuries, what is certain is established through historical evidence transmitted in written sources or in the architectural remains in various Chinese cities. The study asks how these communities entered China, and traces the Arab and Omani role in that process between the first and fifth Hijri centuries.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-OMANSEAASIA-017.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Islam in China; Arab merchants; Omani role; Early Islamic history; Muslim communities; Maritime trade